


Black and Gold

by Witchersforge



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game)
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Other, RP Lore and Headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:07:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27256912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witchersforge/pseuds/Witchersforge
Summary: Aiden was sold to the cats as a boy in the hopes of creating a perfect witcher to serve the empire. Instead, his parents get back an angry, scared young man who can't control himself anymore. Psychosis and Violence.
Kudos: 9





	Black and Gold

“Stradugralt.”

“Not my name.”

“Excuse me?”

“Not my name.” The Cat had been prickly from the start. Since angrily watching Karadin exchange coin with these two strangers to being taken all the way across the boarder into Nilfgaard territory has had him on edge. It doesn’t help this fucking woman keeps calling him a name he hasn’t used in years. Claenwyhn was trying, she hadn’t expected much from the witchers, but she expected something valiant, something that would make her proud of her son. Soon, she thought, there he would be, handsome, yellowed eyed, wearing black and gold armor and standing at the emperor’s side.

Instead, here she was looking at a scared, scrawny young man with wild cat eyes hunched over his chest where a recent injury was still healing. He looked horrific. Gaunt. Scary. This wasn’t the same little boy she saw ride off with the Cats before.

“Sit up straight.” Kyndlevan had enough it seemed. The soldier’s hand didn’t hit Aiden’s shoulder hard, but it was enough to startle the witcher to scramble back against the wall he parked himself against, fear driving almost every single reaction. It was frustrating. Here he was, out of thousands of crowns, stuck with some reject that used to be his son. “You look like a fucking coward, cowering like that. Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“Aiden.” It’s a while before he replies, but it’s said confidently. The two look at each other before peering down at the young witcher. “My name is Aiden.”

“What’s wrong with him?” There’s no real concern in Claenwyhn’s voice. In fact, she seems almost disgusted, the half elf more or less on the same level of exhausted with him as her husband. “Why is he acting like that? What did they do to him?”

“Maybe it’s those mutations...” Kyndlevan sighs. “This is not what I paid the Cats for.”

Indeed not. The Cat shrinks back against the wall, breath hitching. Whatever’s wrong seems to only be compounding worse and worse as one heavy breath turns to another, and then another. The quick inhales and exhales forcing Kyndlevan to step back.

It’s then, suddenly, Aiden leaps. His attempt to break away from Kyndlevan leads in the Nilfgaardian grabbing him by the arm, unaware he might have just made the biggest mistake he ever will. The Cat reacts quickly, breaking the soldier’s hold on him with a swift turn of his feet, latching on to his father’s arm before ducking away and twisting. The sudden movement is enough to knock Claenwyhn away, thankfully out of the scuffle. Aiden’s reflexes are fast, and despite Kyndlevan’s bulk he’s unable to keep the witcher in one place for very long. Despite the movement, Aiden is still breathing heavily, eyes wide and dilated as instinct kicks in.

_Get away. Get away get away get away....gotta get away._

“ _Stop it_.” The order is barked in Nilfgaardian, the first time they shifted away from common. Kyndlevan latches on to Aiden’s arm again. the witcher’s struggling slowing for just a moment.

It’s almost as if the language made something click, a memory.

Eight years old. Barely minding his studies. Still struggling to learn Elder Speech from his grandmother. Told he was going to be important. Nilfgaard needed him. Eventually he’s going to be a bigger soldier than his father would ever be.

“ _Go. Do not come back unless you can make us proud.” His father’s voice, the same language. Aiden remembers seeing him crouched in front of him, hands on both the boy’s shoulders as he speaks. “Remember how important this is. Remember how your family name means something. Remember that you are Stradugralt Claenwyhn Aep Kyndlevan. Three names. Three reminders.”_

It clicked. It clicked so hard Aiden staggered away from the hands trying to hold on to him.

It filled him with a rage he never felt before.

More hit him. Being told to follow the witcher to his caravan. The years he spent fighting the other recruits. The trails. The rage abandonment had fueled in him only to realized he wasn’t even worth abandoning.

Sold. 

Like fucking cattle.

Aiden’s inhibitions fall and he lashes out, hands swiping to dig nails into Kyndlevan‘s face, drawing blood. The rage is blinding as clawed hands become fists and he loses control, punch after punch landing anywhere they can, a bad miss crunching Aiden’s hand into the suit of armor his father wore when they picked him up, the sound almost sickening from the amount of force he piled. 

That doesn’t mean he stops.

Everything turns into white noise. Aiden, blind, has not stopped pelting whatever is closest to him. Even Claenwyhn’s cries aren’t enough to pull him off and away from Kyndlevan.

“Leavemealonedonoteverfindmeillfuckingkillyou.”

A piercing ringing sound overcomes Aiden and finally his hands stop, falling to his side. Everything is white. There’s no longer the voices of his parents as the violence de-escalates. Aiden feels a void. There’s nothing there. There’s no voices. There’s no feeling.

He’s in the void for a long time. Eventually, his breathing relaxes and he finally opens his eyes, finding himself in the caravan. there’s a sniff before the Cat peers down at his broken hand, which has been mended rather shoddily with gauze and what looks like parts of his own armor.

“You’re awake.” A familiar voice. Gaetan.

“What happened?” Aiden’s voice is little more than a croak. His throat is dry.

“I was hoping you’d tell me. You ran in here a day ago screaming bloody fucking murder and collapsed. Been asleep ever since. Karadin was pissin’ and moaning you came back, he thought he was gonna have to give back the money.”

“What money?”

Gaetan blinks at him, unsure what Aiden must be missing. “You don’t remember where you’ve been the past week?”

AIden sits up, resting his injured hand in his free one and shakes his head.

“I don’t remember anything.”


End file.
